China's insatiable appetite for development is showing no sign of abating with the Communist superpower announcing an audacious plan to flatten 700 mountains to make way for a new super-city.

In what is being dubbed the biggest mountain-moving project in the country's history the ambitious scheme will see a metropolis created 50 miles from the city of Lanzhou in the northwest of China.

Demolishing the desolate mountains in the country's Gansu province will cost developers £2.2billion, but, according to the state-run newspaper The China Daily, more than £7billion of corporate investment has already been attracted.

Computer generated image of the proposed new city near Lanzhou in northwestern China

The project is the first planned for the country's interior and the fifth of the so-called state-level development zones. Others include Tianjin's Binhai, where a replica of the Manhattan district is being created.

China is also in the midst of building the longest manmade river ever attempted - a 700 mile concrete and steel channel to shift water for the south to the north.

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The scheme, which was reported in the China Economic Weekly on Tuesday, was given the green light by authorities in August.

However, it has raised concerns from environmentalists who point out that Lanzhou which is home to 3.6million people who work alongside the silty Yellow River is already considered one of the most polluted places in the world.

The city's main industries include manufacturing industries such as textiles, metallurgy and fertiliser production.

According to the state-run newspaper The China Daily, more than £7billion of corporate investment has already been attracted for the new development

The project has raised concerns from environmentalists who point out that Lanzhou is already considered one of the most polluted places in the world

Liu Fuyuan, who previously worked as a high-ranking official at the
country's National Development and Reform Commission, told China
Economic Weekly that the project was unsuitable because Lanzhou is
frequently listed as among China's most chronically water-scarce
municipalities. He said: 'The most important thing is to gather people in places
where there is water.'

The project is due to start in October next year with the first construction due to be a new urban district of almost 10 square miles.

Multi-millionaire developer Yan Jiehe's company, China Pacific Construction Group, is in charge of the work and China's second wealthiest man has dismissed suggestions that the project is flawed financially and environmentally.

He said fears that the city would be unable to prove profitable because of its sparse desert location were unfounded.

In an email interview, a China Pacific Construction Group spokeswoman said criticisms of the project were unjustified. Angie Wong said: 'Lanzhou's environment is already really poor, it's all desolate mountains which are extremely short of water.

'Our protective style of development will divert water to the area, achieve reforestation and make things better than before.

'I think whether it's England or America, or any other country, no one will cease development because of resource scarcity caused by geography.'

A promotional video posted on the Lanzhou new area website shows a digitally-rendered cityscape of gleaming skyscrapers and leafy parks.

Against a driving operatic score, the camera zooms out from a large government building to reveal features of the area's imagined urban topography: a clock tower, a new airport, an oil refinery, a light-rail system, and a stadium packed with cheering fans.

The new area 'will lead to an environmentally sustainable economy based on energy-saving industries' including advanced equipment manufacturing, petrochemical industries and modern agriculture, wrote Chinese Central Television on its website.